Bush's Image, Reality Clash

Forget About Those Saturday Night Live Skits Or Jay Leno Remarks. The President-elect Is Not The Bumbling Imbecile That He Is Portrayed.

December 24, 2000|By Ron Hutcheson, Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- Now that George W. Bush finally has won the presidency, America will find out if he is up to the job.

He may be underestimated.

Almost from the moment Bush declared his presidential ambitions, he has been the butt of jokes questioning his intellect and his leadership skills. His handling of the 36-day election dispute only encouraged the stereotype among those predisposed to be skeptical.

Before journeying to Washington, D.C., this past week and announcing the first wave of his appointments, Bush spent much of the five-week impasse at his secluded Texas ranch. When he surfaced, he often seemed nervous and tentative. He left most of the visible work to Vice President-elect Dick Cheney, even after his running mate had his fourth heart attack.

His critics were brutal, but they highlighted a concern shared even by some of his supporters. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd dubbed him "Mini-Me" after the pint-sized character in the second Austin Powers movie. The Economist magazine suggested a name for Bush's ranch: "The Lazy W."

But a closer look at Bush's record and leadership style suggests he is far more engaged than his image suggests. Interviews with Bush, his advisers and more neutral observers do not reveal him to be the detached and uninterested political dilettante his critics portray.

"Those are caricatures, and they are wrong," said George Edwards, a presidential scholar at Texas A&M University. "This guy is an able person. Successful politicians are frequently underestimated. That's a mistake."

Bush offered a glimpse of the leadership style he intends to bring to the Oval Office in a series of interviews with Knight Ridder during his presidential campaign. The president-elect delegates authority, imposes high standards on his staff, detests long-winded briefings and rewards loyalty.

In terms of personal involvement, Bush is no Jimmy Carter, who immersed himself in the details of government to the point that he personally scheduled time on the White House tennis court.

But he is also no Ronald Reagan, who once failed to recognize his own housing secretary.

"He is the type of leader who believes that he ought to set broad goals, much in the Reagan style, and choose the best people," said Charles Jones, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank in Washington. "The difference between Reagan and Bush will be in the continuing interaction between (Bush) and the staff."

Jones gave Bush high marks for his initial appointments and for the loyalty he engenders from aides. In contrast to the turmoil and infighting on Al Gore's campaign team, Bush began and ended his campaign with the same group of advisers, most of whom have been with him since he first ran for governor.

"The appointments in the transition process so far have been as good as any I can remember," said Jones, citing Bush's selection of Cheney and of former Transportation Secretary Andrew Card as chief of staff. The two Washington veterans are directing the effort to assemble a new government.

Bush faced similar criticism when he was elected governor in 1994, but he reached out to Democrats and pushed his agenda through the Texas Legislature with their help. He remains extremely popular with Texas voters.

"He recognizes that it's important to reach consensus. He is great at personal relationships," said state Rep. Rob Junell, a West Texas Democrat. "He comes from the business sector. The perspective is, let's get the deal done."

Bush has said his goal as a leader is to recruit the best possible aides, then give them the authority to do their jobs.

"A leader is someone who surrounds himself with people of excellence and smarts," Bush said in an October interview. "He's somebody who develops trust. The only way you develop trust is to let people succeed or fail, and back them either way. Obviously, if there are repeat failings, then you need another person."

That does not mean that Bush tolerates slipshod work. Republican consultant Ed Gillespie got a firsthand lesson in Bush's standards when he drafted talking points for a speech outlining the candidate's plans for senior citizens.

"If it had been an old-time western, I would have been the guy who comes flying out the swinging doors," Gillespie said of Bush's response. "He thought it was pabulum -- I'm is phrasing. It was through an intermediary, but it was clear where it was coming from. He's very engaged. This notion that he's not is so off the mark as to be amusing."

Bush also demands that aides get to the point quickly when briefing him.

"As I told one of the smart people around the campaign, if you can't explain it to me, I'm not going to be able to explain it to others," Bush said. "If you can't explain it to me, I figure you don't know the subject very well."